Cool signs, pink hats and busy feet: Bainbridge well represented in second Women’s March

There were handmaids clad in crimson, many a head capped in pink, and one big orange guy in stripes leading the parade, as a cheery crowd of Bainbridge demonstrators walked through Winslow toward the ferry terminal Saturday, Jan. 20, to set sail for Seattle and join the ranks of the second Women’s March.

Many marchers met up at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church, where some sold pink hats for charitable causes, some put the finishing touches on signs, and others paused for a chat and a cookie during a pre-march session of Anne Lovejoy’s Peace Cafe, a regularly monthly gathering that invites attendees to come together and discuss emotional issues of the day.

Others congregated at Winslow Green for a group photo op before beginning the trek down Winslow Way to the ferry, where the 9:45 a.m. sailing to Seattle was quickly filled with sign-bearing, hat-wearing marchers.

Debbie Hollyer, an architectural designer and project coordinator of Hollyer Design Studio on Bainbridge, said she walked in last year’s demonstration as well and was excited to do so again.

“We keep talking about it over and over again, and looking forward to this march we were talking about how it united us, that sense of solidarity,” Hollyer said.

“I think that’s what really stuck with us, that sense of solidarity, that we are out there in huge numbers — oh, that just always gives me goosebumps — really working to save our democracy, getting us engaged. That is a big, big push for us, finding ways to engage people.

Hollyer said the government shutdown, which began at midnight the day of the march, did not make the protest more or less important.

“It’s just one more thing,” she said. “This is an incredible educational opportunity for us, learning about how our politics work, how government works, things that we haven’t had to pay attention to.

“I think that is a silver lining here, absolutely, getting us informed.”

Though marchers bore signs proclaiming a number of causes and concerns — women’s rights, health care for all, support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and more — Hollyer said she was marching most especially for several reasons: “Health care, and certainly getting out the vote in 2018,” she said. “Ending corruption. Getting money out of politics. One person, one vote.”